Heart warming discovery
Researchers in the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA, have cloned and identified the role of a regulatory gene whose malfunctioning can lead to sudden cardiac death. In the presence of underlying heart failure, the gene appears culpable in the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heart beats, that can lead to the sudden death. Although the UCSD studies were conducted in mice, the same gene, called KChIP2 (Kv Channel-Interacting Protein 2), is known to regulate critical electrical currents in the human heart (www.newswise.com, December 15, 2001).